This post was written by Samson for STAC IIT Mandi.

Our Journey in STAC:

We, the STAC team, are people who create curiosity in space science and technology in every child’s mind. And helping them to understand the underlying concepts in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

We had conducted the telescope session in a Government school at Kamand, Mandi, to show them completely new instruments and concepts they have never seen or heard before. This creates an interest among the students in the Astronomy and Astrophysics field.

Visit to School:

We visited a government senior secondary school near IIT Mandi with our equipment (Telescopes, binoculars, tripod, laser, presentation etc.,). The students welcomed us and were more excited to attend the session with us. They cooperated and engaged with us throughout the session.

Interactions with Students:

We started the session with a brief introduction about our club, team members and what our ultimate goal is. We have explained the working mechanism of simple telescopes and the scientific principles behind them, in such a way that they can travel along with us without any difficulties.

Also we presented them our astrophotography of planets, moon and Milkyway galaxy. And explained why the appearance of the celestial bodies looks like the way they appear and an overview of scientific principles governing them.

The students’ minds were filled with questions like why, when and what is the cause of the physical appearance etc., we cleared each and every student’s doubt to make sure the basic fundamental principles were strong enough.

Giving introduction to STAC and explaining the basic principles of telescopes.

Explaining the scientific background behind the astrophotography we made.

After explaining the photography stuff and theoretical principles, the telescope and binoculars were mounted in tripods to start the hands-on part of the session. As it is a day time session, students were allowed to observe the mountain peaks with a telescope and binoculars to get the feel of observing through optic instruments.

Students observing the mountain peaks with a telescope and binoculars. And they learnt to set the eyepiece focus and align the telescope by themselves.

After the observation, students explored the primary and secondary mirrors and inner construction of the telescope.

Conclusion:

• Students understood the overview of the cosmos, where and who we(Humans) are in this universe. And also learned about our solar system, its planets and the scientific specifications of the planets etc.,
• They learned how to mount the telescope and choose the eyepiece for desired observation.
• All of them enjoyed the whole session with us, especially the hand-on session in operating the telescope.
• We are so glad to meet these young curious minds. And our sincere gratitude to the funding agency of this session ‘IAU’s office of astronomy for development’.